October 2009

Bulletin Summary       On 25 September 2009 the European Council (EC) adopted a revision of the EuP Directive. Modifications were made to the Directive in order to extend its scope. As a result, the Directive will now focus not only on “energy using products” but will be extended to include all “energy-related products,” such as windows, water taps, shower heads, etc. A summary of the changes follows.

Modifications of the Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive

The EC adopted the revised Eco-design Directive (3663/09, 13329/09 ADD 1 REV 1) following a first reading agreement with the European Parliament. The new directive extends the scope of the existing Directive 2005/32 by covering in principle all energy-related products.

Energy-related products are defined as all goods ‘having an impact on energy consumption during their use’ which are placed on the market and/or put into service. This includes items intended to be inserted in an energy related product that are placed on the market and/or put into service as individual items for final users, where their environmental performance can be evaluated independently.

The change of scope should lead to the definition of new categories of priority products and to the realisation of new preparatory studies. This will improve the energy and resource efficiency of a much wider range of products and reduce demand on natural resources, contributing to the security of energy supply and to the achievement of greenhouse gas emission targets in the EU. At the same time, economic savings for businesses and end-users can be expected. However, the revision of this Directive does not apply to transportation of persons or goods.

The current Eco-design Directive (Directive 2005/32/EC) establishes requirements that energy using products, and from now on energy related products, must meet if they are to benefit from free movement within the Community. For these products, mandatory minimum requirements can be introduced, corresponding to the performance of the product that has the least life cycle cost.

From this point on, the Commission will need to create additional working groups to study possible design requirements and to present draft implementing measures to the Eco-design Regulatory Committee and to Parliament for final scrutiny and approval of energy-related products. After that, the process will be the same as for the original energy using products: the requirements will be fixed in the implementing measurements and become applicable once published.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) state that no later than 2012, the Commission will review the effectiveness of this Directive and of its implementing measures, including, among other things:

• The methodology for the identification and coverage of significant environmental parameters

   (such as resource efficiency, considering the whole life cycle of products)

• The threshold for implementing measures
• Market surveillance mechanisms
• Any relevant self-regulation stimulated

Following this review, the Commission will assess the appropriateness of extending the scope of the Directive to non energy-related products.

Bureau Veritas Assistance

Bureau Veritas offers a range of services and solutions to help manufacturers, distributors and retailers of consumer products address areas of compliance for a wide range of regulation, including EuP and eco-design measures. Our services can help protect company and brand reputations through compliance within an increasingly complex regulatory marketplace and the increasing ‘green’ demands on product standards by consumers and governments.

  

Contact Details:

For further information on EuP, visit our Bureau Veritas CODDE website at http://www.codde.fr/

Email: bvsales@uk.bureauveritas.com

 

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